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Guernsey and Jersey to play Twenty20 international in 2007
David Piesing
Guernsey and Jersey are to play a Twenty20 international in Guernsey at KGV in September 2007, immediately after the annual Lord's Taverners county match which in 2007 will be between Glamorgan and Worcestershire.
In recent years the two visiting English counties have played a two-innings Twenty20 game but it has recently been announced that the format will change in 2007. The new format will provide an opportunity for the Guernsey and Jersey players to perform in front of a big crowd on what is a massive day of fundraising for the local Lord's Taverners region.
Although Guernsey and Jersey have played each other in one-day cricket for many years, initially on a declaration basis and in more recent years under standard 50-over playing rules, the islands have never played a scheduled match in the shorter form of the game.
Both islands have a long history of the shorter game through playing Evening League, which is particularly appropriate on islands where it is easy to get straight from work in time to play a game at starting at 6pm. In Guernsey, 45 teams contest the 6-division Barclays Evening League which runs from late April until mid-August, with around 900 registered league players. Matches range in duration from 15 overs per side at the beginning and end of the season, rising to as many as 24 or even 25 overs per side in the long mid-summer evenings. White balls, coloured clothing and black stumps are the norm in Division One Evening League games.
With an inaugural Twenty20 World Cup being held in South Africa in September 2007, and with some international Twenty20 cricket being played amongst some of the European First Division countries for the first time in 2007, it seems possible that full-blown European Twenty20 tournament could evolve before too long, it seems highly appropriate for the two islands to be commencing this initiative in what is hoped will become an annual fixture.
© Guernsey Cricket Board
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